Has Anyone Seen Gangs of New York

[lavender]

Finally, someone who wanted to see this movie was around. He was a friend from my home town and we wanted to go see it at Christmas, but no one else was interested. He called me Friday and was in town. We met and saw the film.

It was incredible. There are two scenes in the film - one at almost the very beginning, and then a duplicate (with different players) towards the end of the movie. The acting, the music, everything at this point of the film literally gave me chills. The song that was playing at the time continues to ring through my mind.

I've heard tons of people who didn't like this movie and so I was skeptical going in. But damn, this was a good movie. It's not Scorsese's best work - I give that to Taxi Driver - but it's an amazing film.

 

[Rambling Rose]

If you like blood.

 

[Minkey Boodle]

I thought Daniel Day Lewis owned the movie. He tore it up and then back down. Not that everyone else didn't do wickedly well, he was just that much better in my eyes.

 

[Phoenyx]

IT was a great movie. I neve runderstood hwo the Irish coudl work with bill after all he was trying to do to them.




Did ya notice that the didnt remove the Two Towers from the movie like everyone else.

 

[lavender]

I thought Daniel Day Lewis owned the movie. He tore it up and then back down. Not that everyone else didn't do wickedly well, he was just that much better in my eyes.

He's incredible in the movie. But, he's a personal favorite. He's just a fantastic actor. I think it was his best performance since My Left Foot and the best male performance I've seen all year. Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt would be a distant runner-up.

 

[Rambling Rose]

Did you like My Left Foot? I'll agree it was a stellar performance but the film left me cold.

Agreed that he stole the show in Gangs.

 

[Mischka]

I just don't see why Scorsese's had a hard-on to make this movie. Long-winded and a cliche ending. The time period was interesting, but the plot was far too predictable.

 

[lavender]

Yes, I really liked My Left Foot. I didn't like In the Name of the Father, though.

*SPOILERS*


Rose, you know the scene at the beginning of the film where the battle music is playing with a panflute over the drum beat. They are preparing for battle, and you see Neeson, Reilly, et.al. walking up and then out of the mission. God that scene is stuck in my head. I got chills as they were playing that music. When DiCaprio and the Dead Rabbits 16 years later were walking the same walk to the music, I got chills again. Those two scenes will stand out in my mind for some time. The look of resolve, determination, on those men's faces was priceless.

John C. Reilly has done some amazing stuff this year. He's been in Chicago, The Hours and Gangs of New York. It's nice to see guys like PS Hoffman and John C Reilly doing so well. They are both amazing actors.

 

[Rambling Rose]

John C Reilly rocks my socks. He's just so quietly good at what he does.

 

[Frimost]

It was a slight disappointment, too long for one. It was a very good movie, I was expecting an awesome movie.

Daniel Day Lewis as The Butcher was very good, he played a real bastard, a well acted part.

 

[lavender]

I just don't see why Scorsese's had a hard-on to make this movie. Long-winded and a cliche ending. The time period was interesting, but the plot was far too predictable.

I think the inner plot was almost insignificant to the film. It's like the characters are part of the tapestry and the tapestry is the main plot, the main portion of the film. In fact, the main character of the film is the place and the time period. The rest is on the periphery.

I can totally understand why he's had a hard-on to make this film if you look at it as a part of our history that we kind of gloss over. This time period has not been widely used in the arts, i.e. film, literature, etc. We don't get this take on the gang warfare between classes, between different ethnicities at this time very often. I can completely understand how he would want to make this film about an era, a time, and events (albeit not historically accurate) that have created the fabric of who we are as a society today - and what New York is.

The story of DiCaprio, his father, Diaz wasn't important - it was just a vehicle, a story within a story of sorts. Each of these characters represented a little piece of Manhattan, of America at the time.

I think the ending is almost proof of this whole story within a story notion.

I dunno, I thought it was incredible and I was just expecting it to be average.